I went into astrophysics and came out very discouraged. The researchers actually pushing the envelope are 1% of academia and if you don't find a department with them, you are paddling in the open sea. There is an incredible amount of cruft in academia, not to mention how financially insecure that life is.

Truly, only those who think about nothing but (astro)physics can bear it.

I still love thinking about fundamental problems and upcoming research however. That will never be gone.

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reactordev 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I realize my choice was definitely financially driven but in a future where that’s easier with AI, I’d like to focus on things that make my brain tingle.

I used to love engineering but with AI I feel like all the passion (learning things, making brain squeeze) is gone and I’m just managing another resource.

Don’t get me wrong, I like building things. I also like solving challenges and hard problems and I haven’t done that in a few years now.

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metalliqaz 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

what do the other 99% of researchers do?

	▲	voxl 29 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Most research is boring incremental stuff, and very often you will find a dejected or disappointed individual that realizes this. The invention of relativity only made one scientist a household name. I guess everyone else that came before and after were doing nothing at all.